Cats are meticulous groomers, and it turns out that their obsession with tidiness extends even to the way they drink. Indeed, according to new research, when cats lap, they take advantage of the mechanical motion of fluids, swiftly drawing liquid up into the mouth while simultaneously keeping whiskers and chin clean and dry.

And this unusual drinking strategy, both gravity-defying and inertia-exploiting, is not unique to the domestic cat, Felis catus. Big cats, including lions and tigers, employ the same strategy, suggesting that the biophysical agency of cat lapping is embedded in feline evolution.

The latest findings on the physics of cat lapping are the result of a collaborative effort between researchers Jeffrey M. Aristoff from Princeton University, Sunghwan Jung from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and Pedro M. Reis and Roman Stocker from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their study, published in a November [2010] issue of the journal Science, indicates that the secret to cat lapping is a balance between fluid inertia and gravity.

Creating a Liquid Column

Cats’ lapping strategy, relative to other animals, particularly canines, is very unusual. Whereas the canine plunges its tongue into a liquid and curls the tongue backward to create a scoop that carries liquid into the mouth, the cat is careful not to break the liquid surface at all. Rather, the cat simply touches only the very tip of its tongue to the liquid, without any obvious scooping or carrying of the liquid into the mouth.

The researchers discovered, however, that when a cat lifts its tongue from the liquid, water adhering to the tip is pulled upward, forming a column of fluid that is then drawn into the mouth. “The cat seems to know when the column will pinch-off and has tuned its drinking speed and frequency accordingly,” Aristoff said. “This is one of the key findings of our study. If the cat drinks too slowly, the column will pinch-off and fall back to the bowl before the cat has a chance to capture any of the liquid with its mouth. Conversely, if the cat drinks too fast, it is doing more work than necessary to get the same amount of liquid per lap.”

Cat Lapping Analyzed

The process by which cats drink happens too quickly to be resolved by the human eye. Thus, to visualize the process, the researchers used high-speed imaging techniques, which allowed them to slow the rapid tongue and liquid movements, isolating them for observation. They also used videos acquired from the Zoo New England (a nonprofit conservation group based in Massachusetts) and from YouTube to investigate the physics of lapping in big cats. The subjects of these videos included tigers, jaguars, cheetahs, lions, and ocelots.

After collecting a series of measurements based on imaging and video analyses, the team developed a mathematical model to describe the dynamics of the fluid column. “By solving the [mathematical] model, which [takes into account] inertia and gravity, we can predict the pinch-off time and the volume of a fluid column beneath the tongue,” explained Jung. Their model revealed that cats allow for optimal volume intake by controlling the speed and frequency of the tongue’s motion.

To further explore the physics of lapping, particularly concerning the hydrodynamics of lapping in big cats, the researchers used a robotic tongue, which consisted of a glass disk, mounted on a linear stage, that mimicked the smooth tip of the feline tongue. When the disk was touched to a liquid surface and then drawn upward, a liquid column was formed, very much like that observed with real cat lapping.

According to Aristoff, the robotic tongue allowed for precise control over the various parameters, such as speed and radius of the tongue, that govern lapping. “The results of our physical experiments, using the robotic tongue, together with our theoretical analysis, led us to a prediction for the optimal lapping frequency, which we could measure for real cats, large and small,” he added.

From Cat Biomechanics to Deformable Bodies

The model and robotic tongue led to additional insights into how the positioning of the cat’s head relative to the liquid surface can influence lapping. “If the cat wishes to capture the most liquid per lap, it should be as far as possible from the water so that the vertical extent of the liquid column is the greatest,” Aristoff described. “Also, the closer that cat is to the water, the greater the chance its whiskers will get wet, and the more its vision is restricted.”

A surprising finding of the study was that the semirigid papillae that are responsible for the rough texture of the feline tongue did not play any role in drinking. “There is no rough texture near the tip of tongue, and only the region near the tip touches the fluid while the cat drinks,” Jung explained.

The new research raises interesting questions about the biophysical processes that explain how cats lap and that allow cats to sense and control the balance between inertia and gravity. The findings could also inform the development of new technologies. “It can inspire soft robots transporting fluids, where the deformable body interacts with fluid,” Jung said. “The same underlying physics can be applied in these areas.”

This post originally appeared on the Britannica Blog on Nov. 26, 2010, under the title “Science Up Front: Jeffrey M. Aristoff and Sunghwan Jung on the Physics of Cat Lapping.” Our thanks to Kara Rogers and the Britannica Blog for permission to republish it.